Improvement in movable screens for photographers



stent dtlijlw.

ELIPHALET J. FOSS, 0F CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 105,665, dated July 26, 1870; antcdatcd January 26, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN MOVABLE SCREENS FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known t-hat I, ELIPHALET J..F0ss, of Oam- 1 bridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Photograph Screens, which I verily belie\'e has not been known or used before the invention ot' the same by me; alnl I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same and themode ot' using the apparatus, reference being had to the aceompan ying drawing making a part of this specification.

This invention is designed to afford a convenient and ready mode of admitting the light that falls upon a person or object that is to be photographed, and so regulating and cont-rolling both the quantityof light that is to fall upon the sitter, and the direction ofthe rays, as to produce a picture, or a negative, in which high lights, or white spaces and black shadows, are almost entirely avoided.

The. -pictures taken in the manner herein described are free from sudden transition from black to white; all cross-lights are excluded, and the gradation ot'light and shade is such as to give a full androunded et'ect.

My object has been to produce a picture that 'will require little rctouching, and in which white or light colored hair will have the appearance it has in nature, instead of showing, when printed, merely a blank.

By the use of both the top and side screens, as herein described, the sitter can be placed so that a single pencil ot' light can be made to fall upon any part of tbe figure, and the general or diffused light be also regulated as required.

The sitter may assume any attitude he pleases, and thc operator will then adjust the curtains and screens so as to produce the best effect of the light.

A vertical frame, Q E F B B', about eight feet in height,.and six to eight feet in length, is supported upon the stands on legs, A A', and has, at the top ot' the uprights, projecting horizontal arms, C C, supported by the brace D.

The lower part of the frame is covered, as at G, with thin cloth or tissue paper, extending from the bottom about halt` way up the. traine. The cloth, \V, is also stretched from the arm O to the arm C', forming a cover or canopy about three feet in width, and of the same length as the frame.

At about the middle of the upper part ofthe frame there is an opening. I, from one to two feet square, for the admission ot' direct light, the trame. upon each side of' this opening being covered with cloth or tissue paper at H and H.

In front of the opening I there is a curtain, J, provided with a roller and suitable fixtures, so that it may be adjusted to any required height by means of the cord, S. The curtains K and L, upon each side ot' the opening I, are adjusted by the cords V V', and the top curtains, O and I, by the vcords S' and S. The curtains M and N, near the bottom of the frame, slide on a wire horizontally to the riglit'or-left.

lhe sitter' is placed at -about the middle 'of the frame, under the canopy lV, opposite to'thqopening or window I, and the, curtains, both at the top and sides, are moved back and forth untilV the light is so distributed as to produce the best effect'.

Casters may be attached to the'base A A', and the whole screen and canopy placed at any required angle with the walls ot' the apart-ment.

\Vl|at I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patcnt, is

A single portable or movable screen, having a central open space or window for the admission ot' the direct light, and provided with curtains by which the general or diffused light under the screen can be increased or diminished, while, at the same time, light may be made to i'all upon the ligures or object in any required direction, as specified.

ELIPHALET J. FOSS.

itnessesz J OHN M. BAGHELDER, L. W. S. Foss. 

